Callum McGregor: This Celtic team deserves to be Treble winners

Celtic captain Callum McGregor believes his side are worthy Treble winners and deserve every bit of success they have had this season.

A 3-1 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle saw McGregor lift and his teammates lift the Scottish Cup at Hampden and complete the set of domestic trophies, having already won the League Cup and been crowned Premiership champions.

For McGregor, the triumph meant a 20th winners’ medal and the perfect end to a long season where Celtic have seen off the opposition in three competitions.

“It’s brilliant,” he said. “So much hard work, dedication, sacrifice and togetherness.

“Everything that you speak about when you speak about success, this group has had this season, and done it in a tremendous style.

“You know, maybe not the best game in terms of us today but you know when you get to cup finals it’s about winning and getting over the line and we managed to do that again today.”

For the 29-year-old, the Treble was his first as captain and he said his side had done it the hard way, facing tough games on the way to the cup final and after coming out on top in the league with other teams having improved. Having been tested throughout the season and delivered big results whenever needed, McGregor says there’s no doubt the players deserve their landmark achievement.

“The competition is getting tougher and tougher every year,” he said. “Maybe the toughest it’s been.

“A really competitive league, competitive cup run as well. You know you’ve got to go to Tynecastle and got to play Rangers here as well so brilliant and we came through all the tough tests that we needed to.

“We showed great character and played some brilliant football along the way and to be honest, I think we’ve deserved it.

“I think that this team, to go and do the Treble, I think they’ve deserved it.”

The success has been delivered under the guidance of manager Ange Postecoglou and the talk building up to the game centred on his future, with Tottenham Hotspur reportedly preparing a move to take him to London. The Australian oversaw a rapid turnaround in the team’s style and personnel when he arrived in the summer of 2021 and has taken them to five major trophies in that time.

“He’s been unbelievable since he walked through the door,” McGregor said. “We were in a tough moment when he walked through the door.

“There were players coming and going, we were off the back of a poor season and there were all these things and a combination of things when he came in.

“He was a really strong leader right from the word go. He did his business early, saw who wanted to be here and built a togetherness where the players love the environment.

“The guys he brought in wanted to learn and those that were here created that environment when you come to work you want to be there and give absolutely everything.

“That’s been a building block that’s been in place right until today. I feel we’ve got better, we’re more together and this group deserve to be treble winners.”

McGregor is in no doubt he wants Postecoglou to remain as Celtic manager but admitted he doesn’t know what the future holds.

“He’s delivered that much success in such a short space of time,” he said. “You look at the togetherness in the group, it’s fantastic.

“That’s down to him and the message he delivers every day.

“You understand he’ll be linked with big jobs and he has been, but selfishly as players and as a club we want to keep him as long as we can.

“To be honest, we don’t know [the future]. In football there’s always speculation and that’s a good thing. It shows you’re doing a good job, shows the players have done a good job for him and that he’s done a good job for the club.

“So it’s always nice to have that compliment. In football you never know.

“We celebrate now after a brilliant season and then we see what happens.

“In football you deal with what comes your way. You have to be flexible, work around these things.

“We hope we keep him. It could be speculation. Hopefully we’ve got him come pre-season.”